SincerelyErin

Do you have trust issues?

01 Feb 2012 1 Comment

by Erin Elizabeth Jones in Faith, Life Lessons

Wow!  What a question, right?  I would automatically tell you, “NO!” if someone ever dared ask me that question.

The truth is, lately God has been wrecking me with this question.  You know when God asks you if you trust him…..it really makes you think.

What about when you finally come to the realization that you don’t trust Him like you thought you did?  It’s very sobering.  I hate feeling like I don’t fully, 150%, whole heartedly trust God.  Let’s be honest, it’s really, really difficult sometimes.

The great thing about recognizing a weakness in your life is that there is always room for improvement & we have a chance to grow.  Growing pains hurt and are kind of miserable at times, but the end result is maturity and tenacity and a deeper understanding of who our teacher is.

In my case, my teacher has been Jesus lately.  Who better, right?  I often fall short of His glory.  The great thing is, it makes me realize how much I need Him.  I’m not meant to get the glory anyway; Christ is!  So that works out perfectly.

Lately, the Lord has been pressing me about certain areas of my life where I lack faith-let’s just call it like it is.  I wouldn’t come right out and say that, but my actions put on a demonstration sometimes.

I have been reading scripture and meditating on God’s faithfulness, how He knows it all & sees it all.  I have been meditating on the FACT that God’s timing is perfect; how He sees every detail & how He is working it ALL out for my good.  I have been worshiping like I never have before.  I am learning to worship as the ONLY option; instead of a last resort.  I don’t mean singing a slow song, I mean on my face in desperation, repentance & in awe of what a GOOD God I serve. Yes, the repentance part is super important!  Wow, I’m being very vulnerable here (deep breath)  I don’t say this to be proud, but to tell you that I have struggles, that I’m far from perfect, but Praise God that I serve a god who is perfect in all of His ways!  He is always working things out in me.  The end result is always beautiful & demonstrates strength, but most of all it brings glory to His name.

I want to encourage you today as I have been challenged to trust God just a little bit more.  As we grow in our relationships, we are able to trust more because we know & understand in a deeper way.

God has NEVER given me a reason to doubt Him.  I am the only doubter in our relationship.  There is NOTHING too big for Him, there is nothing too hard or too trivial.  He cares about us with an everlasting love. His love NEVER fails, it NEVER gives up, it NEVER runs out!  His promises are YES & Amen!  Sometimes, you just gotta’ preach yourself happy!!  I know these things at my core, but not always do they reflect in my thoughts or in my actions.  It’s not enough to just “know” something.  We need to know & BELIEVE.

Day by day, I am giving up my “trust issues”  ;)

Have you been unfaithful?

13 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment

by Erin Elizabeth Jones in Faith, Life Lessons

This week I have been thinking about how so many times I am unfaithful.

The other night at our young adults service the Lord dropped a word in my heart out of scripture.  It’s found in 2 Timothy 2:13.  “Yet while we are faithless, He is still faithful.  He cannot deny Himself.”  I have heard this verse before, but when I heard it in my spirit that night I felt like I had been hit by a mac truck.  I just thought to myself as I stood there in worship, “My God,  you are sooo faithful; I don’t even deserve your faithfulness”

The thing about it that amazes me and leaves me awestruck is that He still remains the same.  He never changes!  He is faithful, so He can’t deny who He is.  Praise God for that!  Stop & think about how often you change your mind, your point of view, your opinion or how often your emotions change within a day. We can get out of control at times.  I’m not saying that changing your mind or having emotions is bad, we just have to keep it in balance.

If we say that we believe God is our provider, we need to mean it.  ItIt’s easy to SAY one thing & DO another.  It takes hard work, persistence & faith to say & do the same thing!  What about when we tell God we trust Him & then in the next breath we are complaining about our circumstances?  I am guilty of this.

There is a song that I’ve had in my head all week by Jesus Culture called, “Your love never fails.”  The song has me this week.  He is always working things together for our good.  He knows when we need it, why we need it or don’t need it, how, who, what, etc.

I want to encourage you this week as I have been encouraged/challenged.  Take God at His word.  That seems so easy, but at times it’s very difficult.  If God said it, he’ll do it.  We just have to believe it.  Continue to pray for God’s will to be done in your life; not your own will.  Trust that if things don’t go according to your plan that it’s for good & for a reason.

Maybe you don’t pray much or have never prayed; start today!  There is no better time than the present.  It may feel awkward or pointless, but I promise prayer changes things, it strengthens you & produces a greater trust & knowing of who God is & how much He loves you and wants to take care of you.

Take a minute to listen to these lyrics!  They will bless you!

Reject it!

02 Nov 2011 1 Comment

by Erin Elizabeth Jones in Faith, Life Lessons

Here’s a thought I’ve been meditating on the last week:

“Reject what God rejects.”  

I’m finishing up my year in School of Ministry and it’s been a great year.  I have learned a lot and I feel stronger.  Dr. Bob Abramson said something the other night in class that was just fresh revelation to my spirit.  He said, “We need to reject what God rejects & accept what God accepts.”  That statement jumped out at me and hasn’t left me since.

I want to share what has been processing in my little mind the past week.  The first thing that came to mind was the rejection part.

What are things that God rejects?

-He rejects lies.  He is truth, therefore he cannot accept a lie.

-He rejects gossip.  I believe He can’t stand backbiting and negativity.  In fact, He is love so how can hate mesh with love?  Simply, it can’t!

-He rejects defeat.  Christ is victorious therefore he can’t be defeated.  Death & the grave couldn’t hold him down.  He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  He has called His children to live the same way, victoriously.  Too often we accept defeat as a way of life and we just wallow around in the mud.  NO!  Get over it & get moving!  I understand things happen that get us down and make us feel weary, but at some point you have to choose to move on and not live in your problems for years on end.  Too many people allow defeat to rule their life and they live in that place for their ENTIRE existence.

-Christ rejects a poverty mindset.  Christ is EVERYTHING!  He has everything we need.  Christ desires for us to live a life of abundance and  prosperity.

*Side note: Many people get this confused and think a few things:

1.  As Christians, we should live humble lives with nothing; sacrificing everything.  That is bogus! God wants us to enjoy things and be blessed and be able to give to others and advance His kingdom.  Don’t get me wrong, we need to be humble, but there needs to be a balance.  Some people would walk around naked and live in a box all in the name of humility for Christ.  Silly!

2.  Some Christians think that abundance means they should have everything and hoard all of their money and blessings from God for themselves.  God wants us to be givers, He also desires for us to share our blessings with others.

(Now that I am done ranting about that, let’s move on)

-Christ rejects jealousy.  One of His commandments is “Thou shall not covet.”  We need to be grateful for what we DO have.  Stop comparing yourselves to everyone and everything. One thing I learned many years ago was to never covet what someone else has/does because you never know what it cost them/what they had to sacrifice to get there/have that.  When we are jealous, we are really just demonstrating a heart that is ungrateful & greedy.  Jealousy is also a display of immaturity.

-Christ rejects bitterness.  He hates to see us suffer from sourness and rotten thoughts about others and our circumstances.  He desires for us to live a life of peace and fruitfulness.  We can’t produce fruit and be rotten at the same time.  It just doesn’t work!

Stay tuned this week for my thoughts on “Accepting what God Accepts”